Lessons Learned the Hard Way
by bittie752
Summary: At the age of ten Rory learned of one of his father's greatest mistakes. Not by hearing a story about it, but by witnessing the aftermath of the events first hand. Missing scene from An Unexpected Family.


**I've waffled for a week or two about whether or not to publish this. I'm not sure why. It's not that I don't like it. Honestly, I love how it turned out. **

**This is a missing scene from An Unexpected Family and a story I've had in mind for well over a year. If you haven't read AUF, you can still read this. Just imagine that Ten and Rose have a son named Rory and ignore the stuff about Amy, Melody, Tony and Sabrina. **

**Big it thanks to Larxy for being bored enough to edit this for me..**

**~oOo~**

To ten year old Rory Tyler there was nothing more exciting than traveling through time and space with his Mum, Dad, brother and sister. He only wished that his two best friends, Amelia Pond and Melody Jones, could have come with them. That would have been amazing.

But he knew that the time wasn't right for that to happen. Oh he could almost feel it in their timelines that one day he'd be able to show them the stars but that day was not today. No, today was the day he was finally going to be the first one out of the TARDIS. Mum and Dad always insisted on going first to make sure it was 'safe', not like the TARDIS would ever land them somewhere unsafe. Occasionally, they would let Tony out first and that was blatantly unfair.

Yes, Tony was a teenager but Rory was a Time Lord. Well part Time Lord, part TARDIS, part human so he should be able to leave the ship first. His superior senses made him a much better candidate for it than his stupid ape of a brother.

Rory's eyes followed his father's movements as he started the landing sequence. Slowly, Rory crept towards the door and the moment he felt the ship touch down, he bolted. He slammed the door shut behind him and strengthened his mental shields so he didn't have to hear or feel his parent's ire.

Instead he focused on what was around him. "Cool a spaceship," he whispered, running a hand along the wall. There was a peculiar smell in the air. He took a big whiff and thought of cooking meat but the animal wasn't something that he recognized.

Footsteps came rushing down the hall and a familiar voice called out. "Doctor? Did you catch a ride from another you?" Rose Tyler turned the corner and her eyes went wide when she saw him.

His hearts beat rapidly in his chest. This was bad this was so very, very bad. Somehow their TARDIS had brought them into his mum and dad's time stream. He could feel the older TARDIS' presence in his mind.

"Hello," his not quite yet mother said cautiously. "Who are you?"

"Rory T… Rory," he mentally kicked himself for almost saying Tyler. It wasn't like him to slip like this. He was used to keeping his last name a secret. He shouldn't have even told her his name. The less she knew the better.

Rose grinned but he could tell it was forced. "Hello Rory. Do you travel with the Doctor? Is he in there?"

Swallowing hard, he backed away, not taking his eyes off of her. She looked pretty much the same as his mother did now. Except Mum's hair was more golden than this Rose's was.

"My name's Rose. I'm a friend of the Doctor's. Is he in there?" She tried again to coax him into talking to her. "The time windows are closed, yeah? So you couldn't be from the 18th century."

Rory shook his head and momentarily dropped his mental shield to reach out to his parents. "_Dad! I need you_."

Rose took a step back. Even though this woman wasn't his mother yet, Rory still knew how to read her body language and mannerisms. This was where she tried to make herself look less threatening in order to try and gain someone's trust.

The door to his TARDIS banged open and his dad looked livid. "Rory! Your mother and I are very upset with you. Never ever do that again."

"Dad," Rory squeaked and the same time the younger Rose said, "Doctor?"

The Doctor's eyes flew to Rose and he tensed.

"What does he mean 'dad'?" she questioned, hurt in her voice. Rory pressed himself against the closed door of the TARDIS, wanting to make himself invisible.

The Doctor held up his hands. "Rose, I can explain."

"Time moves faster on that side of the windows. That's what you said." Rose's hands flew to mouth. "You've been gone five hours. It's probably been years for you, a decade at least."

"Rose, please," the Doctor pleaded. "Let me…"

Rose cut him off. "You had a child with _her_?"

_Her?_ Rory had no idea who she was talking about.

"You're a right bastard," Rose raged. "You promised you'd never leave me and you went and played domestics with the uncrowned queen of France."

The Doctor took a step forward and Rose stepped back. "Rose, it's not…"

"But it is and he's the proof." She waved a hand in Rory's direction. "You left me and Mickey here with no way home while you run off and knock up your girlfriend. We could have died!"

Rory flinched at the angry words. Never before had he seen his mother this angry. Even through his tightly raised shields he could feel all of her emotions, feel her pain.

"Daddy, why is Mummy so mad at you?" Rory asked, voice trembling.

Rose's eyes, wide with shock, found Rory's. "Mum?" Did he just say that I'm his mum?"

"What did you do to make her so mad?" Rory asked. His hearts were breaking for the pain and confusion his mother was feeling. Whatever his father had done, it had been bad, very bad. "I've never seen Mum this angry. Not even when we blew up the kitchen."

"I'm his… we have a son. Oh god," Rose mumbled, leaning against the wall for support. "I'm sorry. Ro…Rory, I'm sorry for yelling. Oh god."

Momentarily ignoring Rose, the Doctor moved to kneel in front of him. Rory flinched when his father placed his hands on Rory's shoulders. The young man wanted to get away from his dad. His mind was raced trying to work out the things that he had just heard. His dad had left his mum and Uncle Mickey to die. And apparently it was for another woman.

Had his dad cheated on his mum before they had been separated? His stomach churned as he tried to fight down the urge to be sick.

"Rory, I need you to go inside to your mother. I need to talk to this Rose for a minute. I'll be back in a tick and we'll go someplace nice."

With one last look at the younger version of his mother, Rory slipped inside the TARDIS and ran all the way to the library. He begged the TARDIS to lock the door and not let anyone find him. Curling up in a chair by the fire, he let himself cry.

~oOo~

"It's been three weeks, Rose, and he hasn't said more than five words to me in that time." The Doctor's voice filtered up the stairs to where Rory was sitting, listening intently to his parents fighting. "Nothing, not at school, not at home and zero telepathic communication."

If Rory hadn't already figured out he was a powerful telepath, the last few weeks would have convinced him of it. He had completely been able to block out any of his dad's thoughts and emotions while still being able to communicate with his mum. He just couldn't deal with his dad right now. Not after the story his mum had told him and what he'd read about his dad's mistress, Reinette Poisson, while he'd locked himself in the library.

It hadn't been difficult for him to piece together the things that the younger Rose Tyler had said; _France, 18th Century, and Uncrowned Queen_. And it had all ended up with Rory learning the hard way that his dad had once abandoned his mum for a woman who was not only married but sleeping with the king. It was repulsive.

If there was one thing that he knew, it was that he would never, ever treat someone that he loved that way. He would tell her the truth and never let his head be turned by a woman who used men for political gain. His mum was a thousand times the woman that Madame Du Pompadour was. Rose Tyler was special and wonderful in a way that French woman could never be.

"He's upset. Give him space and he'll forgive you eventually," Mum said with an exasperated sigh.

"I have been. Not once have I pushed him to talk to me and yet he's being stubborn," Dad exclaimed. "And it's not like I did anything wrong. He's just overreacting."

Rory hugged his knees. It didn't feel like overreacting. Every time he looked at his dad all he could see was the pain in his mum's eyes. Right now, he didn't even want to be on the same planet as his father, let alone the same tiny English town.

"Don't you dare," his mum cried. "Don't you dare blame our son for this! He's ten and he's confused. Unlike you, he has been talking to me and he doesn't understand how you could have done that. Rory's entire world is built on the premise that I love you, you love me and that we love our kids. Now he's not so sure. He feels betrayed and like everything that he's known about his family isn't true."

Fresh tears flowed down Rory's face. More than once he'd asked his mum how she could have stayed with his dad after that. She'd said that she loved the Doctor and had forgiven him but it hadn't been easy to trust him again.

"I know," his dad sounded defeated. "I never meant for him to know about that. It… It wasn't one of my finer moments. Honestly, if I could go back and change it I would. I hurt you then and I hurt Rory now." Both of them were silent for a moment before his dad spoke again.

"How do I fix this?"

His mum sighed. "Like I said give him time. He'll start talking eventually. In the meantime, just let him know that you love him."

"I do. I do love him, very much," his dad said softly. "I love all of you so much that it hurts to have this gap between him and me.

Rory slipped back up to his room, not wanting to intrude on his parent's conversation anymore. It wouldn't be easy but he hoped that he could repair his damaged relationship one day too. Just not today and not tomorrow either. But one day.


End file.
